Folding bed



w. L. MURPHY FOLDING BED Filed Aug. 26, 1920 2 Sheets-Sheet 2571/91?2501". @z'ZZz'wn L. Mar

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w. L. MURPHY FOLDING BED Filed Aug. 26. 192Q 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 1521/9]?(101". X UL Murphy jg mdflaz Q aowizz yb Patented Dec. 16, 1924.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIATM L. MURPHY, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, .ASSIGNGR TO MURPHYDOOR BED COMPANY, GE SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, A COIARTNERSHIP CON-SISTING OF WILLIAM L. MURPHY AND WILLIAM K. WHITE.

FOLDING BED.

Application filed August 26, 1920.

To all whom it may concem.

Be it known that I, \VJLLIAM L. MURPHY, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of the city and county of San Francisco and State ofCalifornia, have invented anew and useful Folding Bed, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relates to folding beds of the roller type.

An object of the invention is to provide a bed of the type describedwhich is free from the tendency to tip over when folded. Ihis is a faultcommonly found in this type of bed. Another object is to provide afolding bed characterized by the tendency of the folding structure toremain in the folded position by reason of its weight. Another object isto provide a bed of the character described characterized by amplepillow space. Another object is the provision of a folding bed whichauton'iatically locks itself in the unfolded position so that it cannotbe accidentally released, and which is at the same time readilydisengaged for folding.

The invention possesses other objects and features of advantage, some ofwhich, with the foregoing, will be set forth in the followingdescription of the preferred form of my invention which is illustratedin the drawings accompanying and forming part of the specification. Itis to be understood that I do not limit myself to the showing made bythe said drawings and description, as I may adopt variations of thepreferred form within the scope of my invention as set forth in theclaim.

Referring to the drawings: Fig. l is a side elevation of the bed loweredor unfolded. No upholstered mattress is shown. Fig. 2 is a sectionalview of the head of the unfolded bed, taken in the plane indicated bythe line 2-2 of Fig. 1. A portion is broken away to reduce the width ofthe view. Figs. 3 and 4 are side elevations of the head end of the bedwhen folded and unfolded respectively. In both figures portions areomitted but indicated in light dotted lines. Fig. is a transversesectional view showing an elevation of one side of the head of the bed.The plane of section is indicated by the line of Fig. 4-. Fig. (3 is aside elevation of a modified bed structure.

In terms of broad inclusion my bed com- Serial No. 406,149.

prises a relatively short base frame, upon which the mattress-supportingor folding spring f 'ame is mounted so that it may be turned down to thehorizontal position of use or up to the vertical folded position. Asliding or rolling connection between the spring or folding frame andbase permits easy movement of the former and provides no fulcrum duringthe folding movement whereby a tipping force may be applied to the base.Such a fulcrum is reached only at the extremes of the movement of thefolding frame, that is, when the frame is turned down to the position ofuse, and when it extends vertically upward in the folded position. Inthe first position the outer end is supported on the floor byappropriate legs at the moment the fulcrum is reached so that thestructure as a whole is fully stable. The folding frame at this point isautomatically locked upon the base so that accidental movement isimpossible.

In the second or folded position the mounting of the frame is such thatits center of gravity is over the middle of the base frame, and at adistance from the floor not greater than the length of the supportingbase. In either position, movement to the other, necessitates a slightraising of the frame by movement up a short incline. The weight of theframe therefore tends to give full stability in the folded and unfoldedpositions, and because of the rolling connections between the foldingframe and the base, no fulcrum or purchase upon the base can be securedduring the movement of the folding frame, and hence the base cannot betipped over during operation of the bed. Means are also provided forbalancing the folding frame in the base, and for automatically foldingand unfolding the head frame when the spring frame is moved. The base ofmy bed comprises side frames formed preferably of tubing in inverted U-form to provide short side rails 2 and legs 3 for the bed. The tubing isconnected by bracing frame 4 preferably cast about the tubing, so thatlight, side frames are provided, on which to mount the folding or springframe 3, which carries the spring fabric 7 on which the mattress of thebed is supported. ed on casters 8 to facilitate bodily movement of thebed structure either when fold- The side frames are inounted orunfolded, and are conneeted together by cross rails 9,. which areconveniently placed near the bottom.

Rigidly fixed on the inner side. of each side frame are slide-ways lOand11 Slideway 10 comprises a plate having a sub'stantially horizontal slot12 therein, which is inclined downwardly fro-m the middle toward therear or head of the bed. Slide way 11 is also formed with a slot 13which begins at a. point vertically below the rear end of the slot 12,and slants upwardly and rearwardly at an angle of, say 45,fterminatingon a level with the rear end of slot 12. The upper end 14L of slot 13 isturned nearly to the horizontal as best shown in Fig. 3.

Fixed on each side of the folding frame 6 are spaced studs 16 and 17,preferably provided with rollers 18 and 19 respectively adapted to beengaged in slots 12 and 13 respectively. In order to prevent lateraldisengagement of the rollers, they are grooved, being preferably made intwo pieces to permit assembly in the grooves. The folding frame is thussupported on the base by a sliding or rollingconnection, and the partsare so arranged and proportioned that the folding frame may readily bemoved to vertical or horizontal position as shown in Figs. 3 and 1respectively. A fixed headboard 21 is arranged on the folding frame anda counterweight 22 is preferably disposed across this headboard.

In moving from the folded or vertical position shown in Fig. 3 to theunfolded or horizontal position shown in Fig. 4., the turning motion isabout the studs 16 which move forward'in slide-ways 10', while the studs17move upwardly in slide-ways 11. A small resistance to the initiationof this movement is offered because the rear portion of the slot in theslideav'ay 10 is in-v clined, as alreadyexplained, and of course theframe tends to remain at the lowest point. A. small amount ofpull towardthe operator, however, causes the roller 18 to move up on the slide-way,too fast a move -ment being avoided by the counterbalancing weight. Th'eheavy dotted lines in Fig. 3 show the folding frame partially lowered.As the folding frame approaches horizontal position, the stud 16 againmoves to the low end ofthe slide-way and stud '17 seats in the nearlyhorizontal portion l i of the slide-- way 11, in which position theweight of the frame acting on thei'nclined slide-way 10, tends tohold-it. Flo-positioned a perfectly stable bedprovided, since nodownwardly acting force likely to be exerted on the head of the frame issufiicient to displace the stud 17 from its seat. The folding franielocl-rs automatically inthe horizontal. position, so

my hand:

that accidental pivotal movement or folding of the frame is impossible.To fold up the bed the foot end is pulled outwardly and raised. This:disengages the stud 17 from its seat and permits it to move downwardlyin the slide-way 11, the frame pivoting on stud 16 moves forward andthen backward in the slide-way 10, to finally gravitate to the rear endas the frame approaches the vertical. soon. as the roller 18 startsdownwardly "in the right hand half of the slide-way (viewed as in Fig.3) the weight of the folding structure tends to complete the foldingmovement.

A folding head frame 23 is pivoted on the fixed head frame and connectedby link 24: to a fixed point on the base, so that when the frame 6 isfolded, the head frame is turned automatically into parallelismtherewith. The space between the folding head frame and theframe 6 inthe folded posi-' tion, as shown in Fig. 3 provides ample pillow room,so that the pillows need not be disturbed priorto the folding. A pivotedleg 27 on each side of the-foot end of the folding frame swings in closeto the folding frame when the bed is folded.

In Fig. 6, I have shown a modified structure in which the head board 23is maintained in substantially vertical position durin g movement of thebed frame, by a guide rod 28, preferably fixed to the cross rail midwaybetween the side frames. An eye 29 fljfiefl to the head board slidablyengages the guide rod.

I claim:

A folding bed comprising a base having on each side a slide-way having asubstantially horizontal forward portion and a downwardly inclinedrearward portion, and an upwardly and rearwardly inclined slidewayhaving a: substantially horizontal rearward portion, the rearend' ofsaid first. slide-way being disposed vertically above the" forward endof the inclined slide-way and horizontally in front of the rearward endof the inclined slide-way, and a flat bed frame mounted on said baseand'engaging said slide-ways and adapted to be moved from a horizontalto a vertical position and vice versa, said bee framein its: ver icalposition engaging the rear end of said firstnamed slide-way and thefront end of the second-named slide-way and in its horizontal positionengaging the rear ends of both said slide-vays whereby stability of thesaid bed frame is achiever. in both posi- I 'tions.

in testimony whereof, I have hereunto set WILLIAM L. MURPHY.

